Lonavala sits between Mumbai and Pune, linked to both by the expressway that runs through the hills. Few hill stations in India are so easy to reach from two major cities.

It is a practical advantage more than a romantic one. A home in the hills only works if getting there is not an ordeal — and here the drive is short enough that a Friday evening still feels like the start of the weekend rather than the end of a journey.

That accessibility also changes how the home is used. It becomes somewhere you visit often and briefly, not once a season with weeks of planning.

For families dividing time between work in the city and space in the hills, that balance is the whole point.